Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
219 6th St (Wallace Trailhead, NP Depot)
Wallace, ID
Seventy-three flat, paved miles across the Idaho Panhandle, from mountain silver towns to lakeshore and prairie, open to anyone on foot or two wheels.
The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is one of the finest rail-trails in the country, a 73-mile ribbon of smooth pavement laid down the old bed of a silver-hauling railroad. Because it follows a rail line, it is almost perfectly flat the whole way, which makes it a rare long-distance route that a family with young kids or a first-time rider can genuinely enjoy. It runs from the mountain mining town of Mullan, near the Montana border, west across the Panhandle to Plummer on the prairie.
Along the way it passes straight through Wallace and the historic Silver Valley, then swings out along the Coeur d'Alene River and the marshy chain lakes, crosses a long bridge over the lake at Heyburn State Park, and climbs a gentle final grade to the prairie. You do not have to ride all of it. Most people pick a trailhead, roll out as far as they feel like going, and turn around, and it is beautiful in almost any piece.
What Guests Love
- A completely flat, smoothly paved path, so it is easy going for kids, casual riders, and anyone who wants a relaxed roll or walk
- The stretch along the Coeur d'Alene River and the chain lakes, where the water sits right beside the trail and birds gather in the marshes
- Twenty trailheads spread along the route, so you can ride a short piece or link a long one and never worry about hills
- A historic silver railroad turned into a public greenway, with old depots and mining-town stops along the way
Worth Knowing
- The full trail is 73 miles from Mullan to Plummer, but you can start at the Wallace trailhead and ride out any distance you like, then turn around
- It is free to use, and the paved surface suits bikes, walkers, strollers, and inline skates; the Mullan-to-Wallace stretch also allows snowmobiles in winter
- The Wallace trailhead is at the old Northern Pacific Depot on 6th Street, just off Interstate 90, with easy parking
- The trail's asphalt also serves as a cap over old mining pollution in the Silver Valley, so stay on the paved surface and do not dig or play in the bare ground beside it
Details
Wallace, ID
Learn about Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
From silver railroad to public trail
The trail sits on the bed of a rail line first laid in the 1880s to haul silver, lead, timber, and freight out of the rich mines of the Coeur d'Alene district. For more than a century trains ran this corridor, feeding the mills and smelters of the Silver Valley, until the line was finally abandoned in 1991. What was left was a long, flat, continuous strip of public right-of-way running across the whole width of the Panhandle.
Turning it into a trail took years of work and an unusual amount of cleanup, because the valley's mining century had left heavy metals in the soil along the corridor. The old rail bed was capped and covered with a continuous ten-foot-wide bed of asphalt that both seals the ground and gives riders a smooth surface. The finished Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes opened in 2004, and in 2010 it was inducted into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame.
What you see along the way
From Wallace the trail heads west down the valley, past the brick facades and old depots of the silver towns and along the upper Coeur d'Alene River. As it drops out of the mountains the country opens up, and the middle section along the river and the chain lakes is the scenic heart of the route. Here the water sits right at the edge of the pavement, the marshes fill with waterfowl in spring and fall, and moose, elk, deer, and osprey are all common sights.
Farther west the trail reaches the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene and crosses the water on the long, low Chatcolet Bridge into Heyburn State Park, one of the highlights of the whole ride. From there it climbs the only real grade on the route, a gentle railroad-graded pull up onto the Palouse prairie, and ends at Plummer on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. A companion trail heads north from the middle of the route toward the city of Coeur d'Alene, so the network keeps going if you want it to.
Riding it from Wallace
The Wallace trailhead is one of the easiest to find, tucked beside the historic Northern Pacific Depot on 6th Street just off Interstate 90, with parking and the depot museum right there. From here you can roll east toward Mullan and the mountains, or west down the valley toward Kellogg and the river, and either direction is flat and forgiving. A short out-and-back to stretch your legs works as well as an all-day push.
There is nothing to pay and nothing to sign up for. Bring water and a hat, keep to the paved surface, and go as far as suits you. Because the grade never changes, distance on this trail is a matter of time and mood rather than fitness, which is exactly what makes it such a good stop for a road trip with a mix of ages and abilities in the car.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Wallace
Historic Wallace
At the trailhead
An intact old silver-mining town whose entire downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places, right where the trail passes through.
Pulaski Tunnel Trail
About 1 mile
A free Forest Service hike up Placer Creek to the mine where a ranger saved his crew from the great 1910 fire.
Settlers Grove of Ancient Cedars
About 35 miles
A free grove of old-growth western redcedar up the Coeur d'Alene River, a short walk among trees many hundreds of years old.
Heyburn State Park
About 60 miles
The oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest, on the lake at the trail's Chatcolet Bridge crossing, with beaches and old-growth pine.